Listed here are just some of the possible areas in which an ESRC-funded PhD student might work while holding a studentship in this Department.

This list is indicative only. Prospective students are encouraged to discuss other ideas with relevant members of the academic staff.

Some potential projects offered to students starting in 2011:

• Statistically modelling the spatial distribution of English accents (main supervisor John Aston)
• Evolutionary Linguistics via a functional data approach (main supervisor John Aston)
• Modelling "judge" effects in pair-comparison data (main supervisor David Firth)
• Roll-call modelling for the UK House of Commons (main supervisor David Firth)
• Power laws in economics, linguistics and natural sciences (main supervisor Vassili Kolokoltsov)
• Efficiency analysis of universities (main supervisor Mark Steel)